Sony’s struggling to get Vita support

Sony’s successor to the PlayStation Portable is not doing well. It’s an unfortunate thing, because it’s a beautiful handheld, stuffed with features. It’s biggest problem, other than it being priced similarly to an actual PlayStation 3, is that it just doesnt have much in the way of great, system-selling games. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’s going to change any time soon.

Speaking with The Official PlayStation Magazine (via CVG), Sony Worldwide Studios Boss Shuhei Yoshida has admitted that the company’s facing an uphill battle in fostering third-party developer support for their fledgling handheld – but has affirmed that they’ll continue trying to court favour.

We’re having a more difficult time than we had anticipated in terms of getting support from third-party publishers, but that’s our job. We will continue to talk to development communities and publishing partners and tell them why Vita can provide a great experience for the IPs they have," he said.

The probable reason is that there’s just no real incentive for developers right now, with the system’s uptake so low. to date, Sony;s Vita’s only shipped around 2 million units – and just about every Vita owner would have to buy a single game for it to be really successful. Recently, Sony’s made it harder for the layman to track Vita sales, as they’ve obfuscated details by lumping PSP and Vita stats under the “portable” banner. It has, however, been forced to lower its forecast on handheld software sales for the year, down from 16 million to 12 million – which doesn’t bode well. The proliferation of cheap mobile gaming on smartphones and tablets probably hasn’t helped either.

Nintendo, similarly, struggled with low sales of its 3DS – until it drastically reduced the system’s selling price, and it’s probably in Sony’s best interests at this stage to consider doing the same for the Vita.

Editor. I'm old, grumpy and more than just a little cynical. One day, I found myself in possession of a NES, and a copy of Super Mario Bros 3. It was that game that made me realise that games were more than just toys to idly while away time - they were capable of being masterpieces. I'm here now, looking for more of those masterpieces.

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